Apparatus for automatically milking an animal

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for automatically milking an animal, comprising at least one teatcup having a teat entrance end ( 17   a ), and a movable arm ( 6, 40 ) for moving the teatcup toward a teat of an animal to be milked and attaching it thereto. The teat entrance end of the teatcup is arranged, while being moved by the movable arm ( 6, 40 ) toward the teat, to be held in relation to the movable arm ( 6, 40 ) at a level which is different from that of the teat entrance end ( 17   a ) of a further teatcup, when held in relation to the movable arm.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically milkingan animal comprising at least one teatcup having a teat entrance end,and a movable arm for moving said teatcup towards a teat of an animal tobe milked and attaching it thereto.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An apparatus of this kind is known from WO 90/07268, which suggests thatteatcups are brought to the teats of a cow by means of a robot arm. Theteatcups are moved one at a time by means of the robot arm under thebelly between the front and rear legs of the cow, and rearwards towardsthe udder.

An object of the invention is to improve the success rate of teatcupattachment.

This has been obtained by an apparatus of the initially defined kind,which is characterised in that the teat entrance end of said teatcup isarranged, while being moved by said movable arm towards said teat, to beheld in relation to said movable arm at a level which is different fromthat of the teat entrance end of a further teatcup, when held inrelation to said movable arm.

Hereby, it is not necessary to detach a teatcup on a front teat whilere-attaching a teatcup, which has fallen off a rear teat in cases wherethe movable arm is moved towards the udder in a direction towards therear of the cow.

Preferably, said movable arm is provided with an end portion, forholding a plurality of teatcups, wherein said at least one teatcup isheld at a level, which is different from that of said further teatcupheld by said end portion.

Suitably, said end portion is provided with a first part holding said atleast one teatcup at a first level, and a second part holding saidfurther teatcup at a second level. Hereby is achieved that the teatcupsare allowed to be held at different levels.

Preferably, said first part of the end portion is arranged substantiallyparallel to said second part, said first and second parts beinginterconnected by an intermediate portion. Hereby, the teatcups areallowed to move between the different levels.

Suitably, said end portion is provided with a teatcup supplying meansfor moving a teatcup from said first part to said second part. Hereby,the teatcups are allowed to be actively moved between the differentlevels.

Preferably, said teatcup supplying means comprises a guide means and asupplying member, said supplying member being arranged to move at leastone teatcup along said guide means towards said second part. Inparticular, said guide means comprises a pair of parallel guide members.

Suitably, said at least one teatcup and said further teatcup arearranged to co-operate with a connection means of said end portion insuch a way, that they are held at different levels in relation to saidend portion.

Preferably, said at least one teatcup and said farther teatcup aremovable away from said end portion, independently from one another.

Suitably, said at least one teatcup has a longitudinal extension, andsaid further teatcup has a longitudinal extension, the longitudinalextension of said at least one teatcup being different from thelongitudinal extension of said further teatcup. Hereby, differentlengths of the teatcups are achieved.

Preferably, said at least one teatcup and said movable arm are providedwith an identification means for allowing establishment of the identityof said at least one teatcup. Hereby, it is possible to determine whichteatcup is to be or has been attached to a teat.

In particular, said at least one teatcup is provided with a bar code,and said movable arm is provided with a laser reader for reading saidbar code. Hereby, a quick identification of the teatcup is achieved.

Suitably, said at least one teatcup is connectible to a vacuum source, ateat cleaning means being adapted to be connected at the teat entranceend of said at least one teatcup by means of a vacuum prevailing in theteatcup. Hereby, a teat cleaner is allowed to be fetched by the movablearm without the use of a gripper.

Suitably, the teat entrance end of said at least one teatcup is arrangedat a higher level that the teat entrance end of the further teatcup, asseen in a vertical plane. Hereby, it is possible to apply a teatcup ontoa rear teat, when a front teat has a teatcup attached thereonto.

Preferably, said movable arm is a service arm, which supplies one ormore teatcups to a desired position, for allowing a robot arm with agripper to grip a teatcup.

Alternatively, said movable arm is a robot arm.

Suitably, said robot arm is provided with laser sensor. Hereby, theposition of a teat is possible to be located.

In particular, said laser sensor comprises a laser transmitter forforming a line, such as a scanning laser beam or a stable or scanninglaser plane, and a laser reader, such as an image capturing device.

Suitably, said laser reader is adapted to read bar codes. Accordingly,the location of a teat and the identity of a teatcup with appliedbar-codes is possible to be established by means of the same lasersensor.

DRAWING SUMMARY

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an animal stall provided with a milkingrobot.

FIG. 2 illustrates a first embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 3A to 3C illustrate a second embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 4A to 4C illustrate a third embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows robot milking stall 2 provided with a milking robot 4having a movable arm in form of a robot arm 6 with a gripping means 7adapted to grip one teatcup. A teatcup rack 8 is provided with fourteatcups 10, 12, 14, 16, each teatcup having a teat entrance end 17 aand a milk exit end 17 b. According to a first embodiment of theinvention, two teatcups 10, 12 thereof are of the same or similarlength, while two other teatcups 14, 16—of the same or similarlength—are shorter than the other two teatcups 10, 12.

An udder 18 of a cow has rear teats 20, 22, and front teats 24, 26. Therobot arm shown in FIG. 1 is intended to bring the teatcups 10, 12, 14,16 under the belly and between the front and rear legs of a cow. In thiscase, the teatcups 10, 12 are to be attached to the rear teats 20, 22,whereas the teatcups 14, 16 are to be attached to the front teats 24,26, for reasons that will be apparent below.

An image capturing device 28, such as a digital video camera is arrangedon the side of the stall 2, for viewing at least the udder 18 of thecow, before, during and/or after teatcup attachment.

The robot arm 6 is provided with an angular end portion 30, which isprovided with a teat location means 32, in the form of a digital videocamera and/or a laser sensor, and the gripping means 7. This allows fora movement of a teatcup towards the rear of the cow, while viewing inthe same direction. The angular end portion may be e.g. perpendicular

After optional cleaning of the teats, one of the longer teatcups 10 isattached to a rear teat 20. Then, the other one of the longer teatcups12 is attached to the other rear teat 22. Subsequently, one of the twoshorter teatcups 14 is attached to a front teat 24. Thereafter the otherone of the shorter teatcups 16 is attached to the other front teat 26.

Alternatively, one of the longer teatcups 10 is attached to a rear teat20. Then, one of the two shorter teatcups 14 is attached to a front teat24. Then, the other one of the longer teatcups 12 is attached to theother rear teat 22 and thereafter the other one of the shorter teatcups16 is attached to the other front teat 26.

FIG. 2 shows a situation where one of the longer teatcups 10 for somereason has fallen off one of the rear teats e.g. 20 and therefore (orfor any other reason) has to be re-attached thereonto, while a shorterteatcup e.g. 14 is still attached to a front teat 24 in front of thatrear teat 20. In this case, the longer teatcup is allowed to bere-attached to the rear teat 20 without having to first detach theteatcup 14, as the teat robot arm end portion 30 will be able to passthe short teatcup 14.

It should be noted that it would be possible to arrange the milkingrobot 4 behind the stall 2, in which case the robot arm 6 should beadapted to move each teatcup between the rear legs of the cow. Such arobot arm 6 should preferably be straight, rather than having an angularend portion 30. The longer teatcups 10, 12 are in that case to beattached to the front teats 24, 26 and the shorter teatcups 14, 16 tothe rear teats 20, 22.

A further image capturing device 28 may be arranged on the opposite sideof the stall 2 for viewing at least the udder 18 from that side.

FIG. 3A illustrates a second embodiment of the invention, in which theteatcup rack 8 in FIG. 1 is substituted by a teatcup supply means 40hingedly arranged on the robot arm 6. The teatcup supply means 40constituting said movable arm is allowed to rotate about the hinge bymeans of a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder 41. The teatcup supply means40 is provided with a pair of parallel elongated members 42, 44,defining an intermediate elongated space 46. The members 42, 44 and thespace 46 have a fork like configuration, i.e. the elongated space 46 hasan open end 47. It should be noted that the cylinder 41 may besubstituted by an electric step motor.

The members 42, 44 are furthermore formed to comprise a lower portion48, an upper portion 49 and an intermediate portion 50. The upperportion 49 is adapted to house one teatcup 52, whereas the lower portion48 is adapted to house a row of three teatcups 54, 56, 58, the fourteatcups 52, 54, 56, 58 preferably—but not necessarily—being of the samelength. The teatcups 52, 54, 56, 58 are provided with an annular flangemember 59, which rests on the elongated members 42, 44, such that theteatcups are kept in the elongated space 46.

A conveying means 59 a driven by a driving means 59 b, in the form of aspring, an electric motor or a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder, isadapted to push the teatcups towards the upper part 49. When the teatcup52 is removed from the upper portion 49 the teatcups 54, 56, 58 will bepushed in a sliding movement towards the upper portion 49 via theintermediate portion 50.

The different levels of the teat supply means 40 allows for are-attachment of a teatcup which has fallen off a teat without having tofirst detach a teatcup attached to a teat in front of the other teat, asthe portion 49 will be able to pass the already attached teatcup.

If an attached teatcup still disturbs the movement of the teatcup supplymeans 40, it is simply turned about the hinge by means of the cylinder41, until the attached teatcup can be passed.

FIG. 3B illustrates a stall 2 provided with a milking robot 4 with therobot arm 6 and the teatcup supply means 40 shown in FIG. 3A. When theteatcup 52 has been attached to a teat, the robot arm 6 retracts theteatcup supply means 40 horizontally, away from the attached teatcup,which slides off the upper portion 49 via the open end 47. The conveyingmeans 59 a then pushes the three teatcups 54, 56, 58 on the lowerportion 48 towards the upper portion 49, which results in that theteatcup 54 slides to the upper portion 49 via the intermediate portion50. The conveying means is retracted again, if needed, such that the tworemaining teatcups 56, 58, are kept on the lower portion 48.

The sequence is repeated until all the teatcups have been attached tothe respective teats.

FIG. 3C illustrates the teatcup supply means 40 shown in FIG. 3Aarranged as a service arm, which is hingedly arranged about a verticalaxis A, and movable in a horizontal plane about the hinge to suitablepositions (cf. the broken lines) by means of a not shown electric stepmotor or hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder, in the same manner as shown inFIG. 3A. The movement of service arm is controlled by a computer, whichis associated with the teat location means 32 on the robot arm. Ofcourse, a separate camera, as the one shown in FIG. 1, (referencenumeral 28) may be used to view the movement of the service arm. Thecomputer will then, of course, act in response to that camera, or incombination with the teat location means 32.

During teatcup attachment, the service arm supplies a teatcup at theudder 18. The teatcup is gripped by the gripper 7 of the robot arm 6,which has a straight end portion 30. The teatcups are simply slid offthe end portion 47 by the robot arm 6 and attached to a suitable teat(cf. the embodiment according to FIGS. 3A and 3B). The next teatcup isslid to the upper portion 49 and the gripper 7 grips it—and also thesubsequent teatcups—at substantially the same place in space as itgripped the previous teatcup. The need for moving the robot arm whenfetching the teatcups is accordingly immensely reduced, which results ina quicker and safer teatcup attachment.

FIGS. 4A-4C show a third embodiment of the present invention, in whichfour teatcups 60, 62, 64, 66 are disengagably disposed in a verticallydisplaced relationship on the end portion 30. Each of the teatcups isprovided with a bar code 70, for allowing identification thereof bymeans of a teat location means 32 in the form of a laser sensor (cf.FIG. 3C). The laser sensor is of the kind described in detail in WO97/15900, and is furthermore able to read bar codes.

The teatcup 60 is to be attached to the rear teat 20 of the udder 18.For this purpose, the laser sensor 32 locates the position of the teat20 and furthermore establishes the identity of the teatcup 60. It isdesirable that none of the other teatcups is allowed to be attached tothat teat, as it would cause troublesome further teacup attachment.

When the teatcup 60 has been attached to the teat 20, the teatcup isreleased from the end portion 30. The teatcup 62 is then ready to beattached to the teat 22.

After performed milking the teatcups are individually detached from therelevant teat and returned to the end portion 30 of the robot arm 6 bymeans of e.g. a cord (not shown).

The attachment of the teatcups 60, 62, 64, 66 to the end portion 30 maybe performed by means of e.g. electromagnets (not shown) or vacuumnozzles (not shown).

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for automatically milking an animal,comprising at least one teatcup (60, 62, 64, 66; 52, 54, 56, 58; 10, 12,14, 16) having a teat entrance end (17 a), and a movable arm (6, 40) formoving said teatcup towards a teat of an animal to be milked andattaching it thereto, wherein the teat entrance end (17 a) of saidteatcup is arranged, while being moved by said movable arm (6, 40)towards said teat, to be held in relation to said movable arm (6, 40) ata level which is different from that of the teat entrance end (17 a) ofa further teatcup, when held in relation to said movable arm.
 2. Anapparatus according to claim 1, wherein said movable arm (6,40) isprovided with an end portion (30), for holding a plurality of teatcups(52,54,56,58;-60,62,64,66), wherein said at least one teatcup is held ata level, which is different from that of said further teatcup held bysaid end portion (30).
 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, whereinsaid end portion (30,49) is provided with a first part (49) holding saidat least one teatcup (52,54,56,58;60,62,64,66) at a first level, and asecond part (48) holding said further teatcup at a second level.
 4. Anapparatus according to claim 3, wherein said first part of the endportion (49) is arranged substantially parallel to said second part,said first and second parts (48,49) being interconnected by anintermediate portion (50).
 5. An apparatus according to claim 4, whereinsaid end portion is provided with a teatcup supplying means (40) formoving a teatcup (52,54,56,58) from said first part to said second part.6. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said teatcup supplyingmeans comprises a guide means (42,44) and a supplying member (59 a),said supplying member (59 a) being arranged to move at least one teatcup(52,54,56,58) along said guide means towards said second part.
 7. Anapparatus according to claim 6, wherein said guide means comprises apair of parallel guide members (42,44).
 8. An apparatus according toclaim 2, wherein said at least one teatcup (60) and said further teatcup(62,64,66) are arranged to co-operate with a connection means of saidend portion (30) in such a way, that they are held at different levelsin relation to said end portion.
 9. An apparatus according to claim 8,wherein said at least one teatcup (60) and said further teatcup(62,64,66) are movable away from said end portion (30), independentlyfrom one another.
 10. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said atleast one teatcup (10,12,14,16) has a longitudinal extension, and saidfurther teatcup has a longitudinal extension, the longitudinal extensionof said at least one teatcup being different from the longitudinalextension of said further teatcup.
 11. An apparatus according to claim1, wherein said at least one teatcup and said movable arm are providedwith an identification means (32,70) for allowing establishment of theidentify of said at least one teatcup.
 12. An apparatus according toclaim 11, wherein said at least one teatcup is provided with bar code(70), and said movable arm is provided with a laser reader (32) forreading said bar code (70).
 13. An apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the teat entrance end (17 a) of said at lest one teatcup isarranged at a higher level that the teat entrance end of the furtherteatcup, as seen in a vertical plane.
 14. An apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said movable arm is a service arm (40), which suppliesone or more teatcups to a desired position, for allowing a robot armwith a gripper to grip a teatcup.
 15. An apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said movable arm is a robot arm (6).
 16. An apparatus accordingto claim 15, wherein said robot arm is provided with laser sensor (32).17. Apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said laser sensor (32)comprises a laser transmitter forming a laser scanning beam and a laserreader.
 18. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said lasertransmitter forms a laser plane.
 19. An apparatus according to claim 17,wherein said laser reader (32) is adapted to read bar codes (70).